ledowsky



(No Model.)

2 She'ets-Sheet 1.

0. LEDOWSKYQ STATION INDICATOR.

Patented'Junev7, 1898.

$1HHllHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINHHIIHHIIHHHH A ITO/NEH? (No Model.) -2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

O. LEDOWSKY. STATIONJINDIGATORQ PatentedJune 7, 1898.

W N 3 k j m: Norms ravens 00.. Puorcxumou WASHINGTON u. c.

, series by pneumatic power.

STATES FFICE.

PATENT STATION-INDICATQR.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Lettrs;1atent No. 605,318, dated June '7, 1898. Apflicaticniilecloctdter 21,1899. isini No. 656,112. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LONESIME LEDOWSKY, a-

citizen of Russia, residing in the city of St. Petersburg, Empire of Russia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Indicators for Railroad Garriages; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,- and exact description of the invention, such as willen able others skilled in the art to which tion as it is approached, the duration of the stop there, whether refreshments can be ob-- tained, &c. V

I propose to employ severalindicating devices, one conveniently placed in each car, to operate them simultaneously by pneumatic power derived from an air-reservoir supplied from the air brake air-compressors of the train, andto this end to connect them in series by a system of tubingleading to and communicating with such air-reservoir.

My invention therefore consists in each individual indicating device, in the combination and arrangement of the parts thereof, and in operating said indicating devices in Referring to the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a view in elevation of one of the Fig. 2 is also a view in indicating devices. I elevation of one of said indicating devices,

but showingthe interior mechanism thereon Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of one of said indicating devices, a11d Figs. 4 to 9 are Views of certain details of the mechanism of said indicating devices.

through and secured to thebottorn of the ensing 2 of one of the individual indicating de-. vices. This cylinder forms a guide-passage for a flexible tube 3, suitably connected with the main pipe connecting the series of indi cators and the air-reseryoir, which is situated on the lastcar of the train and is suitably connected with the service-pipe that connects Ethe air-compressors of the train with the in- {divid ual'air-reservoirs of the air-brake appa- Iratus. Thesupply of air from this reservoir (for theseries of indicators) maybe controlled ;by any suitable means-as, for instance, a button.

The cylinder 1 issurmounted by a chamber 4, which has an opening in its bottom wall through which communicationbetween the tube 3 and the chamber is aiforded. said chamber also has a somewhat larger opening in its top wall. V ,ber Land the openingin the top wall therein is arranged in. guide-brackets 5, secured to the back wall of the casing2, a vertically i-eciprocating rod 6, carrying'at its lowerend a Directly'above the said chain cap 7, adapted to seat upon the top ofand t t c o t e. op. p n n t t e hemb jtg Between the upper bracket 5 and an in tegral annulus 8 on said rod issituated a heliical spring 9, that normally l1olds ,,the rod downward, with its cap 7 seated on the chamber 4E. The rod is limited in its reciprocations by a stud 10 and an enlargement 1 1 situ.at ed Ton each side of and adapted to abutagainst the lower bracket 5. i i

1 12 is ahori'zontal revolubleshaftjournaled at its ends inthe side walls of thecase'Z and fcarrying a sleeve 13, keyed thereto and held fiat either limit of its movement by an elongated toothed spring 14, that is carried by said sleeve between the same and the shaft and engages with its tooth the notches a b, situated in the slot (of the key) in said shaft, said sleeve being further provided with re .versely-disposed ratchet-wheels 15 16, situfatedat each end of-the sleeve and each pro- Qvided with but two diametricallyopposed teeth. Said sleeve constitutes the l journal {for a pinion 17, provided with peripheral guide-flanges 18 and operated byarack-bar I 19, carried on the vertically-movable rod 6, In said drawings the numeral 1 indicates a metal cylinder projecting downwardly.

and with the teeth of which its ownteet hinter-mesh.- Said pinion carries on its opposite erative contiguity to the pinion and one of Tsaidpawls. i The pawls 2O niustobviously'not be pushed by their springs beneath the base-line of the ratchet-wheel teeth,.else they will stand between and thus hinder the proper operative engagement of the pinion and either of said ratchet-wheels. For this reason suitably-arranged stops 21 for said pawls are provided on the sides of the pinions.

The distance which the rod 7 may travel is definedby the distance between the stud 10 and the enlargement 11 and is approximately equal to the semicircumference of the pinion.

It will be manifest from the foregoing that revolution is imparted to the shaft 12 from the rod 6 through the rack, the pinion and the sleeve keyed on said shaft 12 and adapted to be rotated by the pawls carried by said pinion engaging its ratchet-teeth. It will be manifest also that one of the ratchet-wheels 15 communicates its motion to the horizontal shaft 12 when the vertical rod 6 ascends and that the other of the ratchet-wheels 16 communicates motion to said horizontal shaft .when the vertical rod descends,owing to-the reverse arrangement of the teeth of the ratchetwheels and the pawls.

As will be seen later, the shaft 12 must at definite periods be rotated in a reverse direction, and for this reason means for automatically reciprocating the sleeve, and thus alternately throwing the respective pawls and ratchet-wheels into operative engagement, must be provided. The means which I have provided to this end consists of the following mechanism: The shaft 12 carries two brackets 2'2 23', adapted to reciprocate thereon, the

one, 22, by means of internal screw-threading, which engages corresponding screwthreading formed on approximately one-half of the shaft, and the other loosely. These brackets are connected by two parallel arms 24 25, which are rigidly secured at one of their ends to the bracket 22 and which penetrate and loosely slide in the bracket 23', subj ect to the manipulation of set-screws mounted in the bracket 23 for regulating the distance between the two brackets. The brackets are prevented from rotating with the shaft 12 by means of cross-bars 24, secured in the side walls of the case beneath said brackets. A spiral spring 25 is loosely carried on the shaft on each side of the sleeve. By this arrangement when the vertical rod has been reciprocated a given and desired number of times the motion imparted to the horizontal shaft from said vertical rod produces a lateral movement of the connected brackets until the approaching one abuts against the sleeve and finally displaces the farther ratchet-wheel thereof from its corresponding pawl and throws the nearer ratchet-wheel into engagement with its pawl.

The shaft12is adapted to drive two cylinders or rolls 26 27, respectively, placed above and below the shaft and having the ends of their axes journaled in the side walls of the casing 2. Motion is imparted to the cylinders through intermeshing gears 28 of the same size and carried near the corresponding ends of said shaft and the cylinders. These cylinders carry the ribbon upon which is inscribed the information to be advertised and which is ;arranged in the front wall of the casing. order to keep the ribbon taut, I arrange the seen through an elongated aperture suitably In lowest gear (for the roll 27) loosely upon its axis and connect the rim of said gear to said axis by means of a watch-spring coiledin said gear and held in position by a removable :disk 29, constituting the outer wall of said versely at will. 1 of a key, which may be inserted through the side wall of the casing and fitted to the end 1 of either axis of the rolls, (according to the direction in which they are to be rotated,)

which for this purpose I make square.

I have provided an alarm mechanism to be used auxiliary to and to be operated by the indicator. This mechanism consists of a substantially horizontal arm 32, projecting from the rod 6, a lever 33, provided with a stud adapted to be engaged by said arm, an integ'ral lever 35-and ratchet-wheel 36, journ'aled -'in a bracket 37, secured to the rear wall of the casing, a connecting-rod 38 between the free ends of said levers 33 and 35, a toothed wheel 39, j'ournaled in said bracket concen- ,trica'lly with said ratchet-wheel and carrying a spring-actuated pawl 40, adapted to engage the teeth of said ratchet-wheel, a pair of bells ,41, mounted on the top of the casing, and a [hammer 44 therefor balanced on trunnions toothed wheel.

42', that are vjournaled in the'bracket and adapted to be operatively engaged by the A'pawl 42 prevents back- ,ward rotation of the toothed wheel and a helical spring 33" holds the lever 33 and the 5 parts connected thereto normally downward. The hammer for the bells consists of a vertical elastic rod 43', carrying aball 44 at its upper end, situated between said bells and carrying on one of its trunnions a toothed block 45, that is adapted to be struck by the inclined faces of the teeth of the toothed wheel, so as to rock the hammer.

The operation of the device is as follows: If,'for instance, the ratchet-wheel 15 isin operative engagement with one of the pawls of i the pinion carried on the horizontal shaft 12, the upward movement of the vertical rod produced by the admission of air to the chamber 3 4 will cause the shaft 12 to rotate a half-revolution and at the same time revolve the cylinders carrying the ribbon, which will be caused to thereby present a new indication. Each of such upward movements of the vertical rod therefore causes the brackets 22 2'3 5 to move laterally until that one which is approaching the ratchet-wheel comes into con tact with its respective ratchet-wheel and moves it into engagement with the pawl 011 the other side of the pinion, disengaging the other pawl and the ratchet-wheel 15. The engagement of the ratchet-wheel 16 with its pawl being effected, further reciprocations of the vertical rod will produce similar operations of all the parts when the rod descends. The horizontal shaft and cylinders, however, now rotate in a reverse direction. The necessity of reversing the direction of rotation of the cylinders of coursearises out of the fact that the indicating matter on the ribbon will become exhausted when the last station of the route has been reached. In order that the operation may be accordingly reversed at the proper moment by the automatic means, the distance between the two brackets 22 23 should be adjusted according to the number of the stations which it is to indicate, and for this reason a graduated scale indicating just how far to separate the brackets for a given distance traveled by the train may be marked on the connecting-arm 24-. At each upward movement of the rod 6 the arm 32 transmits motion through the lever 33 and the connecting-rod 38 to the lever 35, which latter turns the ratchet-wheel with which it is formed and whose teeth slip past the sprin g-actuated pawl carried by the toothed wheel 39. WVhen the vertically-movable rod again descends, the system of levers is permit-ted to fall, carrying with it the ratchet-wheel formed with lever 35, whose teeth engage the point of the pawl on the toothed wheel, and thus rotate the latter. The rotation of the wheel causes the hammer to vibrate, owing to the fact that its toothed block is successively struck by the teeth of the toothed wheel.

As before stated, an indicating device similar to the one just described is provided in and for each car in the train. The flexible tube 3 connects with a main flexible pipe, connecting all the indicators in series with the air-reservoir for the series. A suitable pushbutton arrangement permits the escape of the air from the reservoir, so that a practical simultaneous operation of the whole series of indicators may be secured. Ifdesired, however, each indicator may be directly connected to an individual air-reservoir and individually operated.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

1. In an indicating device, the combination with the casing and with a revoluble roll or rolls journaled therein and carrying the matter of indication, of a revoluble horizontal shaft journaled in said casing and operatively connected with said roll 01' rolls, a longitudinal] y-reciprocatory vertical rack-carrying rod also mounted in said casing, means for operating said reciprocatory rod, a pinion loosely mounted on said shaft and engaging the rack on said rod, a pair of reversely-disposed laterally-movable ratchet-wheels arranged one on each side of said pinion and keyed on the shaft, pawls carried by said pinion and adapted to alternately engage said ratchetwheels, andautomatic means for throwing said pawls into engagement with said ratchetjwheels, substantially as described.

2. In an indicating device, the combination with the casing and with a revoluble roll or rolls journaled therein and carrying the matter of indication, of a revoluble horizontal screw-threaded shaft journaled in said casing, in termeshin g gears mounted on said rolls and the shaft, a longitudinally-reciprocatory vertical rack-carrying rod also mounted in said casing, means for operating said reciprocatory rod, a pinion engaging the rack of said shaft, a pawl carried on each face of said pinion, a laterally-movable sleeve keyed on the shaft, constituting the journal for said pinion and provided at its ends with reverselydisposed ratchet-wheels, and a pair of adjustablyconnected brackets mounted on said shaft, the one loosely and the other provided with internal screw-threading engaging the threading of said shaft, substantially as described.

3. In an indicating device, the combination with the casing and with a revoluble roll or rolls journaled therein and carrying the matter of indication, of a revoluble shaft journaled in said casing and operatively connected with said roll or rolls, a longitudinallyreciprocatory rod mounted in said casing, means for operating said reciprocatory rod, means for transmitting motion from said rod to said shaft, automatic means for reversing the direction of rotation of said shaft, an arm carried by said reciprocatory rod, a pair of bells mounted on said casing, a hammer for said bells trunnioned in said casing and gravity-actuated means for operating said hammer operatively connected with said arm, substantially as described.

4:. In an indicating device, the combination with the casing and with a revoluble roll or rolls j ournaled therein and carrying the matter of indication, of a revoluble shaft 10111: naled in said casing and operatively con: nected with said roll or rolls, a longitudinally reciprocatory rod mounted in said casing,

means for operating said reciprocatory rod,-

means for transmitting motion fromsaidl rod to said shaft, automatic-means for reversing the direction of rotation of said shaft, an arm carried by said reciprocatory rod, a pair of bells mounted on said casing, a vertical elastic hammer trunnioned in said casing and situated between the bells, a toothed wheel jour naled in the casing and engaging said hammer and operative connection between said toothed-wheel and the arm, substantially as described.

5. In an indicating device, the combination with the casing and with a revoluble roll or rolls j ournaled therein and carrying the matter of indication, of a revoluble shaftjournaled in said casing and operatively connected with said roll or rolls, a longitudinally-reciprocatory rod mounted in said casing, means for operating said reciprocatory rod, means for transmitting motion from saidrod to said shaft, automatic means for reversing the direction of rotation of said shaft, an arm carried by said reciproeatory rod, a pair of bells mounted on said casing, a vertical elastic hammer trunnioned in said casing and situated between the bells, a toothed block mounted on the trunnion for said hammer, a toothed wheel journaled inthe casing and engaging the toothed block of said hammer, a ratchetwheel journaled concentrically with said toothed wheel, a spring-actuated pawl carried by said toothed wheel and engaging the" ratchet-wheel, and a system of gravity-actuated levers connected to said ratchet-wheel and adapted to be engaged by said arm, substantially as described.

6. In an alarm mechanism for an indicating device, the combination with the case for said device and with a vertically-reciprocatory rod mounted therein, of an arm carried by said rod, a pair of bells mounted on said casing, avertical elastic hammer trunnioned in said casing and situated between the bells,

a toothed wheel journaled in the casing and engaging said hammer and operative connection between said toothed wheel and the arm, substantially as described.

7. In an alarm mechanism for an indicating device the combination with the case for said'device and with a vertically-reciprocatory rod mounted therein, of an arm carried by said rod, a pair of bells mounted on said casin g, a vertical elastic hammer trunnioned in said casin g and situated between the bells, a toothed block mounted on the trunnion for said hammer, a toothed wheel journaled in the casing and engaging the toothed block of said hammer, a ratchet-wheel journaled concentrically with said toothed wheel, a spring-actuated pawl carried by said toothed fwheel and engaging the ratchet-wheel, and I a system of gravity-actuated leversco'nnecte'd to said ratchet-wheel and adapted to be engaged by said arm,substantially as described.

'In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 1 my hand in the presence of two subscribing 1 witnesses.

ONESIME LEDO\VSKY. Vitnesses:

M. DIXON, P. NARISCHKIN. 

